Marcus continued, “However, Baroness Wallen only did it because she was ordered to by her guardian at the time, her uncle, Viscount Diane. As only a child with no other relatives, it’s clear that she had no choice but to obey.”
Sir Norwood made a pained look. Under their code of chivalry, he and the other knights were there to protect weak and fragile women and children. Sighs could be heard here and there, perhaps because the attendees were imagining the pitiable environment Cesia had grown up in.
“So is all forgiven, simply because she was a minor?” Selene quickly rebutted, interrupting Marcus. A section of the noblewomen grimaced. It might not have been the place for such a reaction, but Selene had just made quite an impertinent remark to a prince.
“Of course, a crime is a crime. I’m saying that there is room to take the extenuating circumstances into consideration.”
All the knights there, beginning with Sir Norwood, looked as if they were beginning to agree, and Selene mentally cursed herself. This happened last time. This prince has a way with words, she thought. He methodically advanced his pieces up the board, and in the end, everything would be flipped on its head, and all go how he wished. “If a crime is a crime, then Cesia ought to be punished,” Selene said, still determined to have her way.
Marcus beamed, and Selene shivered. It was just a beautiful, well-proportioned smile. She didn’t understand why she could feel chills running down her spine.
“I’ve always believed that, after those who have committed a crime have received the appropriate punishment, they ought to be given a chance to make up for what they’ve done.”
“How soft…”
“Would you say, then, that no matter the crime, whoever does wrong once should never have the chance to atone?” Marcus said smoothly.
Selene nodded, somewhat confused. She was wary of making a thoughtless reply that Marcus might seize on. However, she had to agree to be able to denounce Cesia. “Yes, that’s right!” Selene said hesitantly. “It’s only right that anyone who commits a crime is called a criminal. Don’t people keep themselves disciplined and make sure to do the right thing so that doesn’t happen?” Her voice got louder as she spoke, as she realized that this was a line that the justice-obsessed knights would like.
“Then, Lady Selene, you trying to hit Cesia three years ago would make you a criminal. She’s a baroness now and my fiancée, after all. We were going back to the past to investigate guilt, right?” Marcus said with a grin.
Darn it! Selene thought, and she bit her lip. But this isn’t about me. I won’t let him confuse things. “Please don’t confuse the two! I’m not talking about myself; I’m saying that that woman is a criminal who isn’t fit to be the princess consort!”
Cesia’s frown deepened when Selene called her a criminal yet again.
Marcus looked tenderly at his partner, readying himself to deliver the finishing blow. Just why was anyone and everyone all right with calling his beloved Cesia a criminal? She herself acknowledged what she had done and was willing to be punished for it.
When Marcus loved someone, he would protect them from everything that might harm them, and he didn’t skimp on the effort it took to do so.
“You may wish to deny it, but Emeroade has a constitution, and the courts decide the punishment based on the seriousness of the crime. That also means a person who has paid for what they’ve done cannot be tried for the same crime twice.”
Anita’s crimes had been too severe. No matter the circumstances she may have been in, and even though she had been a minor for part of it, too many people had lost their lives as a result of her actions. It might have been lucky, then, that the punishment for what Cesia had done already had precedent.
“Cesia attended the Academy under a false name. Afterward, she was readmitted under her own name and on her own ability, then graduated, so the charge of falsifying her academic record isn’t quite accurate,” Marcus said, tapping his chin. The attendees nodded—he was right, and Cesia had, after all, been admitted and graduated on her own efforts. “So, to announce the punishment the court handed down: a reasonable fee and a period of house arrest under supervision from a guardian—”
“Just hold on!” Selene shouted.
“What is it now?” Marcus said with a cold look.
Selene answered, though not without flinching. “The court handed down a punishment? What’s that supposed to mean? You’re making it sound like Cesia was already punished!”
While Cesia made sure not to let it show on her face, she was in agreement. If she was being honest, she had no memory of ever being punished. She looked anxiously up at Marcus, and without looking back, he held her hand.
“Not knowing about it is no excuse for thoughtlessly acting as if it never happened, Selene Diane.”
“Wha–!” Selene said, angrily turning red at Marcus’s direct insult.
“Cesia Kathrin was already charged and punished three years ago for falsifying her identity and attending the Academy.”
There was another wave of loud murmuring. The other members of the Second Division, including Layne, who was already restrained and was listening from the side, were also greatly shocked by this information.
“A fine?” Cesia hesitantly whispered to Marcus. She had no memory of ever paying anything and didn’t remember being placed under house arrest, either. Marcus grinned mischievously at her confusion, then continued.
“Cesia Kathrin’s fine was paid by the man who was her guardian at the time, Viscount Diane.”
“My father?!”
“Of course; he was her guardian, after all. The money he paid was originally supposed to be her payment for attending the Academy in place of you, Lady Selene, so if the viscount hadn’t paid, he would have been liable to receive further punishment as a result of breaching the contract between him and Cesia. So, he listened to counsel and gladly paid.”
Marcus said he would be “liable to” be punished, but I would bet anything that he threatened to charge the viscount if he didn’t pay up, Cesia thought. That’s just how Marcus is.
“After that, the viscount stepped down from being Cesia’s guardian, and I, the second prince, took on the role and supervised her during her house arrest.”
“Could you be talking about the study camp I went to so I could be admitted at the top of my class?” Cesia again whispered to Marcus, and he wordlessly smiled.
When Marcus had become her guardian, he had told her that, as the prince’s charge, she had to get a perfect score on the entrance exam and begin at the top of her class and that after she had been admitted, she had to maintain those grades as a scholarship student. To do so, she had to spend some time at a villa in the capital, where she had to prepare for the test under the watchful eye of Chris and several different instructors. At the time, she had just lost her home because Viscount Diane had left to go to his territory outside the capital, so she had accepted it without thinking about it too deeply. All she had to do was study and was guaranteed food, clothing, and shelter, so it had basically been heaven compared to where she had been before. She had thought that it was Marcus’s way of keeping her out of the uproar that had ensued after the graduation as the scandal at the Academy came to a close. She had had no clue that it had actually been house arrest.
Cesia stared at Marcus, her eyes wide with disbelief, but he still didn’t look at her, and he was again making that awful, nonchalant expression.
“Do you get it now?” Marcus asked Selene. “In other words, judgment has already been passed on Cesia’s crimes, and she was punished. She’s already paid for what she did,” he said calmly. Selene, as well as everyone else, listened in mute amazement. “So, does anyone have any questions? Well?” He looked around, then said in a clear, powerful voice, “I guess not. Then, to the conclusion. According to the laws of Emeroade, Cesia Kathrin is not a criminal!”
The hall was completely silent. Then, Layne’s voice rang out. “B-But, even so…even so, it is true that Cesia was a criminal in the past.”
Roy quickly cast a silencing spell on him. If he said anything more, things might get out of hand. But Roy had been a second too late, and as expected, Selene shouted in a high-pitched voice, saying, “He’s right! It makes no difference whether Cesia was a criminal or is one now! She isn’t fit to be princess consort!”